FCA grilled platforms on asset freezes in March before Woodford saga

Consulted on fund illiquidity

As the fallout from the Woodford Equity Income fund suspension continues, Professional Adviser can reveal the FCA wrote to platforms in March to enquire about their processes around asset freezes.

Towards the end of March the regulator wrote to some, but apparently not all, investment platforms after it did work with a small number of other firms to see how they would respond in the event a fund was suspended. Regulatory questions to be asked as Woodford investors' capital value could 'plummet' The regulator then communicated with platforms to outline its findings and urge them to consider how prepared they were for fund suspensions, saying it would follow up after they outlined their preparedness and contingency plans. It was not clear why the FCA did not contact all i...